The pace of science forces the pace of technique. Theoretical physics forces atomic energy on us; the successful production of the... fission bomb forces upon us the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb. We do not choose our problems, we do not choose our products; we are pushed, we are forced--by what? By a system which has no purpose and goal transcending it, and which makes man its appendix.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

All you of Earth are idiots!... First was your firecracker, a harmless explosive. Then your hand grenade. They begin to kill your ...own people a few at a time. Then the bomb. Then a larger bomb, many people are killed at one time. Then your scientists stumbled upon the atom bomb--split the atom. Then the hydrogen bomb, where you actually explode the air itself.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

For me chemistry represented an indefinite cloud of future potentialities which enveloped my life to come in black volutes torn by... fiery flashes, like those which had hidden Mount Sinai. Like Moses, from that cloud I expected my law, the principle of order in me, around me, and in the world.... I would watch the buds swell in spring, the mica glint in the granite, my own hands, and I would say to myself: "I will understand this, too, I will understand everything."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »